Yuki-On-Na (winter witch)
In the lands of the Far East, there are tales of beings called the Yuki-onna. These beings appear during the winter with black hair and blue lips. Her inhumanly pale or even transparent skin makes her blend into the snowy landscape (as famously described in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She sometimes wears a white kimono, but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow. Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened. There may be some truth to the legend. Amongst the Tungusic peoples and the peoples of the Eastern Isles, there are witches that rule not with an iron fist, but with a wintery hand. These yuki-onna (in the Eastern Isle) are actually witches who learned their wintery powers from the West, specifically the Hyperboreans of Thule. They apply them with an oriental outlook, becoming at once alluring and desireable, and outright dangerous. The wintery aspect of their powers allows them to rule with an icy hand. Many times, men have rebelled against their wintery witch mistresses, others of their kind are forced into isolation, while others are killed. Still, the Yuki-onna are working to spread their magic and notoriety, no matter where they are encountered in the Far East of Lemurias. Game Statistics Winter witches '''gain the following class features. '''Familiar: Winter witches must choose a familiar that is native to the frozen north, even when they themselves operate in other regions. Traditionally, this limits winter witch familiar choices to bat, cat, fox, hawk, owl, rat, raven, or weasel. A winter witch who gains the Improved Familiar feat can select any familiar she desires, save for familiars with the fire subtype. Cantrips: A winter witch adds ray of frost to her spell list, but does not automatically learn this cantrip. Patron: A winter witch must choose her patron from one of the following patron themes: ancestors*, deception, enchantment*, endurance, moon*, occult*, portents*, stars*, transformation, trickery, vengeance*, water, winter*, or wisdom. An asterisk (*) indicates a patron theme detailed in Ultimate Magic. Ice Magic: When a winter witch casts a spell with the cold descriptor, the save DC of the spell increases by +1. A winter witch cannot learn or cast spells with the fire descriptor at all. Cold Flesh (Ex): At 1st level, a winter witch gains endure elements as a constant spell-like ability, but only against cold temperatures. At 4th level, she gains cold resistance 5, making her comfortable in near-freezing temperatures. At 9th-level, this increases to cold resistance 10, and at 14th level, it becomes immunity to cold. This replaces the witch’s 4th-level hex. Hexes: The following hexes complement the winter witch archetype: beast eye*, blight, cook people*, evil eye, feral speech*, hag’s eye, hoarfrost*, ice tomb*, witch’s hut.* An asterisk (*) indicates a hex detailed in Ultimate Magic. A winter witch can select the following hexes: :Frostfoot (Su): This ability works like the spider climb spell, but the surfaces the witch climbs must be icy. The witch can move across icy surfaces without penalty and does not need to make Acrobatics checks to run or charge on ice. She can move across regular snow without penalty, and heavy snow only costs her 2 squares of movement instead of 4. :Frozen Caress (Su): Whenever the winter witch casts a touch spell, she can infuse the magic with cold as a swift action. This grants the spell the cold descriptor, and adds 1d4 points of cold damage to the spell’s effect. If the touch spell allows a saving throw, a successful save negates this additional cold damage. References OGL Section 15 -- Copyright Notice Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Magic. © 2011, Paizo Publishing, Inc.; Authors: Jesse Benner, Jason Nelson, Sean K Reynolds, Owen K.C. Stephens, Russ Taylor. Category:Archetypes Category:Witch archetypes